I opened my eyes, seeing that I was in the bedroom wrapped up in the arms of a familiar red vulpine as he was asleep beside me. There was a visible mark along the left side of his muzzle, going straight down.

Just another thing to worry about with him.

Last night he seemed so energetic and playful, now he's passed out like a rock. Perfect to sleep on as well because he's not as hard as a rock- Well, I guess that's not entirely true. He was much softer before they changed the hydraulics that was in his arms originally. Now they're steel tubes that contract and expand, much like natural muscle mass, but I still enjoy sleeping on him. He'll always be my fluff-ball, both inside and out.

I think it's funny how he enjoys laying his head in my lap as well, granted I had the same thing happen to me as he did. He always says things like, "You're soft in all the right places!" Which, I guess if he thinks that, I can't argue.

I think it's cute either way.

A few minutes later, I felt him roll onto his side, continuing his trend of wrapping me up in his arms while pressing me against his chest. I laid there for an unknowing amount of time, rubbing across the several marks that covered his torso, arms, and now, face. Though, now they grow in number daily from the occupation he's chosen which is bouncing for a bar, granted, he hasn't lost a fight yet… But that's the thing, 'yet.' He's already had close calls with groups outnumbering him, only for someone to thankfully take his side and help out, or he manages to hold them off long enough that they tire out.

That's another thing, he's exhausted all the time now. He'll take plenty of time to spend with me, but he's always waking up dizzier than the last. I don't know if it's just the job taking its toll on him, but he acts like he doesn't sleep a second at night-

He groaned slightly as he nuzzled his face down into my shoulder. It wasn't a painful groan thankfully, more of a playful one.

"Good morning."

He pulled his face back to look at me with a sleepy smile as I felt the sheets go up and down rapidly from his side, hearing his tail beat against the mattress. "Morning, Mags," He said, earning a slight giggle from me as I looked at him. "Is that my nickname, now," I asked him as I turned my head slightly, exaggerating a dumbfounded look. "Maybe," He replied, dragging it out a few seconds which caused me to laugh at him. "Seriously. Mangle never made sense for you," He added, nuzzling up against my shoulder again.

"Is that so," I asked him as I pulled myself over him. I wrapped my legs around his and held his arms behind his back with my left hand, using my right hand to rub his cheek. "Just because you're flexible doesn't mean that you have to have an entire name based on it," He replied with a smirk. "And you know I can break free from this." In the singular second after that, he managed to yank his arms forward and turn the tables by throwing me back onto my side of the bed and lay across my belly, laying his entire body weight on me, though, being careful not to hurt me.

I began shoving into his side, soon straining so much to sit up that I had my legs in the air instead, nearly wrapped around him entirely. I sighed and let my body go limp under him as he chuckled. "You done," He asked me in a teasing voice as I trailed my hand from the small of his back up to his neck, soon rubbing the back of his head. "I guess so," I replied, bringing my hand down towards his back again as I examined every new cut along it. He sees them as scars, I see them as reminders that he is still broken.

I know for a fact it's not entirely physical; I know he's still demolished mentally.

"Yer a very fluffy pillow, ya know that?"

I shot him a glare as he looked at me from underneath his arm, earning a loud chuckle from the red vulpine. Hearing his accent come out sent a small shiver of excitement down my spine. He rolled off my stomach and onto my legs, holding himself up just enough that he could look at me, except I sat up and tackled him back down, now practically bent in two. He looked at me with a smile as I nuzzled up into his chest, soon looking up at him with my own smile. "Why don't you use your accent more often? I love it," I exclaimed with a giggle as I rubbed his belly, once again finding more marks.

The vulpine looked out the window for a little bit, seemingly deep in thought as I assumed he was thinking up a response. All I heard was the breeze from the window for several minutes before he finally cut it. "Well, if I use it all the time it'll lose its emphasis. It's how you know I mean what I say when I use it," He replied, grabbing the hand I was using to play with the gruff of his chest as I thought about teasing him a bit. "So all those times you said you loved me, you didn't really mean it," I asked in a mock hurt tone as I drew my hand away and held it against my chest, taking a deep gasp.

"Of course I meant that," He chuckled, grabbing my hand again as he finally leaned back with his arm around my shoulder, pulling me back with him as we both laid sideways across the bed, staring out the window at the sunrise which usually blinds us until we wake up. Today, though, it was rather peaceful, the sun had already risen past the horizon, casting a warm glow throughout the room instead of the usual blinding rays.

"You know, there is another way I can show it," I heard him say, breaking my gaze out the window as I brought my face over to his, my curiosity piquing as I wondered what he meant. "Show what," I asked him, feeling him squeeze my hand tightly as he looked at me. "To show that I love you," He replied with a small smile which I repaid with my own, though, I soon thought about what he said. "We've already done everything, though. Didn't we?" I felt him shuffle a bit, pulling me into his lap as I faced him, resting his forehead against mine. His arms wrapped around my back, holding me tightly as I held onto his shoulders, staring into his bright yellow eyes while he continued holding me.

"Well, there's one more thing we can do. I was told about it the other day, but… I think we should wait."

I continued looking at him for an unknowing amount of time before I felt his left arm pull back and grab my right hand from his shoulder, soon intertwining his fingers with mine as he rubbed his cheek against my face. "I'll wait. You know I will," I said with a smile as I rubbed back against him, letting out a playful growl. We continued playing around for a good ten minutes, simply rubbing against each other with our faces as we both laughed, though, we soon went back to our wrestling where we'd simply roll across the bed, trying to get the upper hand on the other, but neither of us could get it.

"Whoa!"

The vulpine fell off the bed and onto the floor with a dull thump as I accidentally rolled too far to the edge of the bed, but I busted out laughing as I looked over the edge at him, reminding me of the day that we learned he was going to be sent away. He raised his hand for me to help him up, and I grabbed it. "Looks like you didn't learn the first time," I told him as I yanked myself down to him, landing on top of his torso as I carefully wrapped my arms under his and held onto his shoulders, rubbing my face against his chest. "I guess so," He sighed, rubbing the top of my head and the small of my back with either hand.

"I'm glad that you have all that fur," He chuckled, leaning down a bit so he could rub his face against mine again. "It's what I get for being an arctic," I replied. "It also means that I get to have a hell of a time washing it out so it stays white." He chuckled as he laid back down flat, sighing a bit as I felt him relax underneath me. "You know, Jeremy used to make jokes that if I were to ever kill him, they would never find out due to the color of mine," He said, staring up at the ceiling with a grin on his face. "I'm shocked you didn't when he brought up the footage of us when we first kissed," I told him, pulling myself up to his face with a smirk.

"Oh, I was gonna. It's just the others rushed into the office with me and pulled me off him after I got done with the computer," He replied, his grin growing even wider. "I wonder what the others are doing right about now," I said, letting my hand snake up to his cheek and rub it. "Mm, they're probably screwing with Jeremy still. Either that or they got into a fight with each other after we left, of course, about nothing to do with us," He said with a chuckle, but I lost my smile as he said that. Guilt started running through me as I thought about the possibility. "But what if it was about us," I asked him, seeing his smile slowly fade as he gained a more comforting look.

"I'm sorry I said that. I know they were your friends, they were mine as well. But we aren't sure about it, so we shouldn't dwell on it too much. Hell, the possibility that they'd ever even show up here is a long shot."

"We showed up here," I retorted, tightening my arms around his shoulders. "We shouldn't think about it. I'm sorry I even brought it up… Though, there is one thing I'd like to ask you," He said. "What is it," I asked, looking into his yellow eyes again as he stared back. "Well, Andy told me yesterday that they were having a show today at the bar. A lot of people will be there, but he offered to let me bring you in for free. I won't be working, but if something happens I am allowed to intervene… I just thought it would be fun to get out for a bit and have fun since I've been tired so much lately. Every day you've been looking so bored…" He said, rubbing my cheek again as he continued looking at me.

"Foxy."

He gave me a surprised look as his ears shot up.

"Why would you even need to ask me about that? Let's just do it," I said with a grin as I sat up and felt my tail bat against his knee which he had raised a bit. "It doesn't start until later, we still have a good couple of hours before we need to get down there," He replied, running his hands down my arms until they reached my hands. "Also, did you steal my shirt," He asked with a smirk as I looked down at the extremely baggy t-shirt which I had gotten from his side of the closet to sleep in. One side of it was slipping off my left shoulder as well, causing me to grab it and pull it up. "Yes, I did. And it's very comfortable. Plus, it smells like you," I told him with a giggle as he shook his head left to right with a smirk still planted on his face. "You still look beautiful in it," He said, leaning forward and kissing me for a second before pulling back. "Really," I asked him with an unbelieving tone as he continued looking at me. "Yes, I'm tempted to give you the rest of my shirts, now," He said in a somewhat joking manner as I smirked at him.

I stood up and walked toward the bathroom door, hearing him ask me what I was doing as I reached down and pulled the shirt off, soon stopping at the bathroom door to turn around using the now balled-up shirt to cover my breast as he continued staring at me with a confused look. "You said you wanted to give me the rest of your shirts, did you not," I asked him in a teasing manner, shooting him a smirk in the process. I turned back around, dropping the shirt to the floor as I walked into the bathroom and cut on the bath, hearing the vulpine scattering to his feet as he ran in behind me.

"Wait, I thought you were going to mess up my clothes," He said with a dumbstruck look as I began shuffling out of my baggy sweat pants, bending over just enough to see him staring as I kept my tail down, wagging it slightly in a teasing manner. "No, I was coming to take a bath, you perv," I taunted him, slowly turning around and walking towards him, grabbing his sides as I pressed myself against him, rubbing my face against his chest. "Um, I- uh… I…" He stammered, unable to complete a sentence as I continued pressing my bare body against him. In the meantime, I was stifling a wave of laughter from erupting as I watched him try to say anything coherent. "Hmm, why don't you take a bath with me so we can finish up quicker," I asked, watching his face turn a deep shade of purple underneath the crimson fur.

Slowly, I kissed him on the cheek and let go of him, turning around while dragging my hand across his chest and walked over to the tub. When I dropped my foot into the water, it was about half full, so I crawled the rest of the way in and set myself down in the warm water. To my surprise, he stepped into the tub behind me, causing me to let out a small yip as his legs slid past me and he settled into the bath. "So you took up my offer, I see," I said, leaning back into his chest.

Foxy merely lowered his head and nuzzled into my cheek in response.

The two of us had just finished getting dressed after bathing, I was currently in front of the mirror working on my bow-tie as the vulpine walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, resting his head atop mine while I let my hands drop down and grab his wrist. In the mirror, I could see he was dressed in his coat and pants again, except this time he had his 'famous' eye patch covering his left eye, like he used to do back when he performed. "Do you need help with that," He asked me with a grin, pointing at the red bow-tie that was hanging from my neck, slightly off-center. "I wouldn't mind," I replied, letting go of his arms as he reached up and pulled the tabs out, straightening it for me.

"I have no idea what I'd do without you sometimes."

He began to rock us side-to-side as he continued resting his head over mine, the two of us standing there for an unknowing amount of time as we stared at the mirror. "I think we should start heading down towards town," He suggested, causing me to sigh as he let go of my arms and we both began heading out the room. When we got to the front door, he opened it, motioning for me to go ahead. "Such a gentleman," I mused as I walked by and ran my hand across his chest, feeling the tough fabric of his coat. "You're a tease, you know that," He asked me with a smirk as he shut the door and caught up to me.

"Aw, are you upset that nothing happened in the bath?"

His smirk grew as he grabbed my hand and pulled me over to him, purposefully knocking his shoulder into mine before leaning over and kissing me on the cheek. "No, I'm rather pleased that nothing happened," He replied, causing me to let out a small laugh due to how long he was smirking. "I know, that's one of the many reasons why I love you," I told him, leaning into his arm as he continued holding my hand.

The two of us eventually made it down the hill, walking out into the street to see that the bar was rather full already, signaling that we must have been somewhat late, but that didn't deter the vulpine from dragging me along with him and into the bar. The tables that originally filled the center of the room were pulled out somewhat, set up alongside a large wooden platform that was covered with a giant sheet. Most of the tables were already filled, but we managed to get one where both of us could face the stage beside each other.

Much to both our chagrin, men would stare at me, causing him to wrap his arm around my shoulder and growl away anyone who dared to come closer than a few feet, and women were staring at him, causing me to occasionally plant a kiss on his cheek. Granted, they probably got the message of his arm around my shoulder, though it's fun being a bit spiteful – And hey, he deserves it. As we waited, we settled on water to drink as it was only about midday. Pretty early to be drinking, but that didn't stop some of the patrons for already starting out hard with liquor.

After a while, a group of people walked up onto the stage with various instruments and started playing some music, and while I didn't know the name of it exactly, it was somewhat familiar-

"Do you ever get the feeling like you know every single beat of a song, but then realize you have no idea what the name is?"

I looked over at the vulpine beside me and let out a sigh. "Yes, and I feel exactly that right now," I mumbled to him with a slight giggle as I continued trying to figure out the name of it. Throughout the brainstorming of several names, he eventually started humming along quietly with the band as he tried to think of it as well. By the end of the song, the band quieted down the crowd of people who were applauding them. "Okay, that was-" They were cut off by the sound of someone kicking open the front door, causing both of us to groan in frustration as we thought we were going to hear the name.

"Okay, we're here to collect our dues, Andy," A wolf shouted as he walked into the building with a pissed off look. "Hey, get your mangy ass outside. You haven't been here in over three months," The hawk shouted back at the man who was now being followed by two hounds, a shepherd of some kind, and a fox. "Stay right 'ere, lass," I heard the vulpine beside me say as he stood up and unbuckled the belt around his right wrist, walking directly towards the group of canines as the wolf argued with Andy.

The fox from the other group looked at Foxy and I noticed that his eyes went straight to fear, mumbling something to the others in the group who all looked at him as well, but the wolf never caught on. "Do your thing, Foxy," Andy said to him as the crimson vulpine walked up and the wolf turned around to face him. The gray wolf was taller than him by about five inches at least, yet Foxy still slugged him in the gut with no remorse. The lupine quickly doubled over, clutching his belly as he looked like he was going to vomit.

"Oh fuck, it's him," The fox shouted as he instantly turned to run out of the door, but was instead grabbed by his shoulder and yanked to the ground where he got a foot to the side of his head. He went for the other three, but the wolf managed to stand back up and instead stabbed a blade into the back of his shoulder, causing me to shout as I got up and started running towards him. I turned to the other three who were just starting to try and fight-

KA-SHUNK

I turned back over to Foxy and the wolf, except now there was a blade sticking out of the wolf's side, a black liquid trickling down his hip. My gaze followed over the rest of the knife, and I noticed that there wasn't a handle in the blade. Soon enough, I noticed that the vulpine's arm was pointed towards the wolf's chest, and that the blade that was usually mounted was missing, but that didn't explain how it managed to hit the wolf about five feet away. When I looked at Foxy's face, I noticed that he was shocked as well, but then I remembered that he was stabbed, causing me to forget everything and run over to him, gently grabbing his shoulder and turning him away from me so I could look at the handle and part of the blade protruding from the back of his shoulder. Before I could think of anything to do, I noticed that Andy had pulled a rifle up from under the counter and was aiming the barrel at the other three.

'Damnit, Andy, I don't know where the hell you got that thing, but I'm thankful you do…'

"You can take your friends and leave, or I'm shooting each of you where you stand," He warned them, racking the bolt of the rifle which had a mostly wooden body with a straight, small, black box protruding from the bottom, underneath what I assumed was the bolt of it. It reminded me of one of the rifles from Jeremy's WWII video games that he played when he had nothing to do at night. The three of them quickly shuffled past us, grabbing the unconscious fox and slowly bleeding wolf out of the room, but not before Foxy yanked the blade back out of the wolf's side and seated it within his wrist again with a sharp click.

"That fucker really did a number on you," Andy slightly chuckled from behind the counter as I set him down at the bar. "Eh, it looks worse than it is, I bet," The vulpine chuckled with him as he sat down with a grunt. "Let's get you two into the backroom where Victoria can help you out, in the meantime, we're going to have the band continue playing out here," Andy said as he motioned us behind the counter with him and led us through the door to the side of the shelves in the back. "I have one condition to make," Foxy chuckled as we walked into the backroom. "Yeah, go ahead," Andy said as he had us sit down on a wooden crate and turned on the lights, showing off a room full of crates and shelves which were mostly full of cardboard boxes. "I want a bottle of whiskey, your pick," He chuckled, pointing towards the bartender who agreed and grabbed one out of a box before handing it to him. "Just don't ransack us for anymore," Andy replied in a joking manner as he allowed the waitress to walk in with some rags and other stuff before she set it down beside a sink and motioned me over.

"Yeah," I asked as I walked over to her. "I still need to go out there and serve drinks, I know that you two are a couple, so I'm leaving this here with you. I'm most likely going to be running through here for more drinks so if you need help just get me when I walk through," She said, walking out the back room and shutting the door. "Okay, then…" I mumbled, looking back at the vulpine who had already opened the bottle and drunk a good amount already. "Hey, would you mind walking over here? You can sit on the crate right here as well," I told him, seeing him nod and slowly walk over while holding his shoulder. He sat down on the crate, facing away from me so I'd have access to his right shoulder.

"Okay, I need to take the knife out so we can get your coat and shirt off, okay," I told him, gently wrapping my hand around the knife. "On three," he said as he braced himself.

"One... Two... Three-"

I quickly yanked the blade out as he shouted, soon throwing his head back with the bottle to his lips before leaning back forward and panting in an attempt to numb the pain. "Yeah, that wasn't too bad," He chuckled lightly while I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek before sitting back up. "Good, now, let's get that coat off of you," I said, grabbing the bottle from him as he stood up and undid the buckle. I set the bottle down as he pulled his coat off and set it on a crate, before pulling his t-shirt off and setting it on the coat.

The synthetic blood poured down his back, staining his fur, and leaking onto the crate now that nothing is covering it. As I examined the cut, I realized that it was more so of a gash, signaling that it must have been jerked around before he managed to get that wolf off him, which would make sense.

"Heh, reminds me of when you patched up my neck," He chuckled before sitting down again, taking one last sip of the alcohol. "It's messed up like your neck as well," I replied, wetting a rag and running it over the cut. "Hey, would you mind bringing the cuffs of my sleeves up so I don't stain them?" I brought my arms to his front, seeing him set the empty bottle down quickly and slide the sleeves up my wrists, to my elbows. "Thank you," I told him, soon getting back to cleaning up the cut. He sighed after a few minutes. "What's wrong," I asked him, continuing to clean up the cut as he looked over his shoulder at me. "I'm sorry that our day got kind of ruined. I should've just let Andy deal with them," He said, looking back down at the ground as I set the rag on the side of the sink and looked over at him. "Listen, I don't blame you for what happened. You were doing your job," I told him, leaning over and kissing his cheek again, careful not to stain my dress shirt on his back.

"I threw myself at them pretty recklessly and got myself injured. I should have stayed there with you so that we could continue our night."

"It's fine. I'm okay with missing a little bit of the show if it means that you're going to be okay. And I'm glad that we came, to begin with, imagine what would've happened if you weren't there," I told him sternly, seeing him sigh once again as I leaned over and kissed him once more before getting back to patching him up. "I just realized that I won't be able to wear this shirt," He mumbled, looking up at his stained and torn t-shirt that was resting on the crate. "Well, we can run by Clark's store when we're through. But… I'm curious about what happened out there. How did you manage to shoot him with your blade," I asked him with a curious tone as he thought for a minute.

"Well, I don't know. Instinct took over and I threw the blade towards him, but he was too far away. I tried to clench my fists, and it just shot towards him. I'm hoping I didn't kill him though," He said, gaining a solemn tone as his head was hung low. "I don't think you did. It didn't seem like you hit anywhere fatal," I told him with a bit of glee in my voice to try and spark his mood up. "I guess you're right. Anyways, how is it coming along," He asked me, looking over his shoulder as I was trying to set a patch on it to try and help the wound heal. "Almost done, then we can get out of here and run by the store to grab you another shirt," I said, finishing up the patch.

After a few minutes of struggle, I managed to seal the patch over the would and eventually cleaned out the rest of his fur by washing him with the rag. He stood up and rolled his arm in its socket a few times as he groaned before letting it hang at his side, soon turning around with a smile and a sigh. "Feels good as new," He chuckled while he walked over and wrapped his arms around me. "Thank you." I looked up at him and gave him a peck on the lips before I wrapped my arm his waist and rested against his side. We walked out the backroom, and once again, he gathered a lot of stares from patrons, especially women, as we both told Andy that we were going to walk down to Clark's for a second to get him another shirt.

As we walked out, we caught the stares of several people in the street. When I looked over at the vulpine I saw him rubbing his left shoulder as if he was hiding something. "Is something wrong with your shoulder," I asked him, causing the vulpine seemingly freeze for a second before he looked over at me. "Uh, no… It's just… Let's get to Clark's real quick and I'll explain," He sighed, grabbing my hand and dragging me along the street. It seemed like only a few seconds before we were in the store and he was sighing, resting against the wall.

"Hey, there, you two," I heard the old lupine chuckle from behind the counter while we both looked over at him. "How're you doing, old-timer," Foxy chuckled as his hand dropped from his shoulder, finally allowing me to see that nothing was there. "Good… I see that you've been doing decent yourself," He said, pointing at his chest in a joking manner. "Yeah, that's kind of why we're here," The vulpine replied, rubbing the back of his neck, but the man kept staring at him, somewhat dumbstruck.

"Are you alright," I asked the lupine, breaking him from his trance and causing him to shift his sight over to me. "Yeah, it's just… I'm not used to seeing someone like this unmarked," He replied, causing me to grow confused, but I didn't press it further. "I'd say he's pretty marked already," I chuckled, rubbing my hand across a large scar that ran across his chest from where he clawed himself. "Okay, well, I'm going to go grab a shirt. Mag, you want to come with me," The tod asked, looking over at me with a somewhat uncomfortable expression. "Sure. And that nickname again, I swear," I replied, mock anger running through me near the end.

I heard the two of them lightly chuckle as I was guided by him through the aisles, towards the back of the store. "So, what did he mean by that," I asked him as he started running through shirts, surprisingly button-ups, something I never thought I'd see after seeing him in only tee-shirts, almost religiously at that. "By what," He asked as he pulled a red-flannel, long sleeve, button-up around him and fasten the buttons from bottom to top. He turned towards me for a minute, his arms outwards as if he was showing it off with one of his famous grins planted on his lips. "About 'not having a mark', and, 'I like it,'" I told him, gently pulling the side of the shirt on his upper-arms, seeing that it was a snug fit. It showed off his physic as his coat did, but I didn't mind.

"Well... That's kind of something I was wanting to tell you about earlier…" He said, tucking in the edges of the shirt into his pants before grabbing a few more of different colors and turning towards me. "You see, here; they don't have jewelry or stuff like that in great quantities. So instead… Uh… They use a 'marking' technique to show that, you know…" He began stammering non-sense as I continued looking at him. "Slow down a bit, collect your thoughts, then continue," I told him with a smile as he sighed and continued. "It's-a-permanent-mark-to-show-that-you're-with-someone," He exclaimed very quickly, soon bringing his hand to his face as he shook his head. "I was meaning on saving explaining it to you until later on; until I thought that we could… Well… Just wait a little bit, you know."

I breathed in and exhaled slowly, taking in everything he just said. "Okay, I think I got it... But what is this 'mark' exactly," I asked him with a curiousness in my voice as he looked rather relieved. "Basically, canines use their fangs to mark each other's left shoulder," He replied, leaving me standing there dumbstruck. "That... makes a lot more sense," I sighed, realizing why everything seemed so awkward earlier. "Well, there you go," He told me with a sigh of his own as he rested his hand on my shoulder. "If we have any more incidents like this, we might need to speed up that 'wait a little bit,' you know," I replied in a teasing manner, as I brought my hand up to his left shoulder and pinched it slightly, hearing his tail flick as he looked back at me.

He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me up to his side. "So, does that mean you want to do it," He asked with a smile on his face while I looked up at him. "I think you should know that answer," I replied, seeing his smile fade away and he grew a mock hurt tone as he started exaggerating his movements. "I guess that's a no then," He sighed, exaggeratedly holding his chest as he let himself drop to his knees beside me. "You goof, you know I want to," I giggled, shoving his shoulder slightly as he chuckled. "Seems like I tricked you; guess I haven't lost my acting talent," He replied with a smirk as he got up and wrapped his arm around my waist again, pulling me up to his side in an affectionate manner. "I have no idea what I'm going to do with you," I sighed, snuggling up against his side.

"I see you've finally chosen something that seems more fitting," Clark chuckled as we walked up to the counter. "What? You don't enjoy tee-shirts," The vulpine asked in a teasing manner. "I've never really liked them, feels somewhat restrictive knowing I can't unbutton it," He replied as he leaned against the counter and started working out numbers on a notepad. "Jeez, I wish she had your preference," Foxy said, squeezing me against him as Clark looked up curiously. "Why's that," The lupine asked while I wrapped my arms around his torso, knowing what he was about to say. "She steals my tee-shirts at night and sleeps in them, and when she does I almost never get them back… Between you and me; that might be why I have to come here so often," I heard the vulpine reply, whispering the last part. "Well, that might be what's keeping my business afloat here," Clark chuckled, finishing up the math and telling us the price, to which we paid.

We eventually walked out of the store, both of us still wrapped around the other as we made our way towards the bar again, except this time the vulpine was carrying a bag full of new shirts. "Hey, where are we going to put those anyways," I asked him, causing him to break from his trance at the path ahead and look towards me. "Well, I was going to ask Victoria if I could leave them in the back room until we're ready to leave," He replied, slowly turning back towards the way we were walking. "Jeez, we need to stitch up your coat as well," I sighed, letting my head rest onto his shoulder. "Eh, we can worry about that later, let's just enjoy the rest of the day," He said with his usual enthusiasm as we made our way back to the bar, soon entering and sitting at the bar itself.

Once we sat down, we heard the band playing again, the tables were all nearly filled, but we didn't bother with even attempting to walk over there as we were both pretty tired after the previous fiasco. People would cheer when songs were finished, and thankfully we didn't have any more incidents like earlier with trying to figure out the name.

"This is much better," I sighed, sliding my stool towards his slightly so I could use his shoulder as a pillow. "Yeah, I'm glad we're actually able to relax now," He replied, bringing his arm around my shoulder and resting his head against mine as I leaned into his side. After a few minutes, I turned my head towards his, soon scooting up a few inches to plant a kiss on his lips before relaxing and resting into his side again, though, I could tell he was looking down at me a bit dumbstruck. Much to my surprise, I felt his other hand brush against the right side of my cheek and pull my face towards his, only for him to lean over and kiss me again, except this time neither of us would pull back.

We both melted forward, pushing back against each other as I could feel the corners of his lips tugging upwards, causing me to grow my own grin as the warmth of his lips against mine sent butterflies into my stomach. Sure, we both had been officially together for almost three months now, yet it still felt as amazing as-

"Get a room, you two."

I felt him pull back in a split second, soon watching him scan the room until his eyes narrowed in onto a cheetah in a table in front of us. "Ey, cunt, tha 90's called and they're pissed ya took their joke," He told the cheetah, his accent as strong as ever as I grinned at him, but his gaze was unwavering on the feline who suddenly backed down with a grumble and turned back around towards the stage.

"Asshole," He muttered, turning back towards me as he grew another small grin. "Well, I know what to do when I want to hear your accent," I told him with a smirk. "Oh, really? And what is that," He asked, tightening his grip around my shoulders as he squeezed it just enough to mess with me. "Well, all I need to do is start making out with you…" I trailed off at the end, leaving him to wonder as his grin grew wider. "I hope that's not all you need to do, because if so I wouldn't mind using it for a while," He replied with a taunting tone as I leaned forward slowly to tease him. "Maybe," I told him, soon closing the distance the rest of the way and planting a small kiss on his cheek before resting my cheek on his shoulder.

"Aw…" I heard him mumble in an exaggerated tone as I giggled to him. "You'll be fine, let's watch the show," I told the vulpine, soon turning my attention towards the band on stage as we both eventually ordered drinks and started partying the night away.

The seconds quickly turned into minutes, to which the minutes multiplied into hours, leaving me and the red vulpine to eventually be drunkenly dancing beside the stage with another few groups of people as the band blasted music throughout the bar. Admittedly, it was extremely fun, the two of us were having the time of our lives with a most likely 'synthetic' alcohol-induced mindset. Though, we thankfully cut ourselves off a good amount short than what we could handle, which was about by two drinks for me, about four for him; so by no means were we hammered, thankfully. Just a little tipsy.

"Hey," I called to him, barely able to hear over the music. "Yeah," He asked me as he wrapped his arm around my waist again and pulled me over towards him so we could hear better. "I'm ready to go home," I told him, seeing him nod to me, the two of us shuffling towards the door and leaving. As we made our way back up the hill, I remembered his shirts.

"Hey, wait. What about the bag?"

He stopped and looked over at me, shrugging it off. "I'll get it tomorrow, they'll be safe in the backroom," He replied, soon the two of us continued our trek up the hill. After what felt like an eternity for me as I was absolutely exhausted. We finally made it up to the house, but not before my legs started to give and he had to carry me the rest of the way, but he was a good sport and we laughed about it.

"Hey, thank you," I told him as I pulled my head back from the crease of his neck while he carried me down the hall towards our room. "No problem, I know you're tired. I'll help you undress so you can go to sleep, that is, unless, you can do it yourself," He said, more so asking, as he looked over at me with a somewhat raised brow. "I'd... prefer your help," I replied happily, dropping my head back into his neck as he walked us into the bedroom and set me down onto the bed.

"Okay," He mumbled with a bashful expression. "How do you want to do this?" I looked over at him and sighed, beginning to undo my bow-tie, to which I set it onto the nightstand, before motioning for him to help me with the buttons. "Alright," He said, starting from the top and working down slowly before he finally helped me sit up long enough for me to pull off the shirt. "I guess I really shot myself out tonight, huh," I giggled, soon unbuttoning my slacks and motioning for him to help me slide them down to which he obliged, soon leaving me in my undergarments before he walked over to the bathroom and soon walked out with one of his tee-shirts.

"Heh, look who's giving them away now," I teased him, grabbing the shirt and throwing it on before unclasping my bra and throwing it to the side of the bed. In the meantime, I watched him as he finally stripped out of his shirt and pants before he walked to my side of the bed and leaned down, placing his arms on either side of me before tossing himself over and landing behind me with a chuckle.

"Good night," He told me, wrapping his arms around my waist before pulling me back into him, kissing me on the cheek before he finally rested behind me. I always slept better in his embrace, regardless if we had the help of booze.

Another PSA from the beta-reader: If you're ever stabbed, LEAVE THE KNIFE IN. Only pull it out when you're about to receive medical attention, or if you're a hyper-advanced fox-robot with super advanced regenerative technology. If you pull the blade out of the wound prematurely, then you've just removed the one thing stopping you from bleeding to death.

Also, if you don't have adequate equipment to clean up a wound, alcoholic beverages such as vodka or whiskey can be used to clean it. However, do so sparingly. While alcohol does kill germs, it can also kill exposed tissue and delay healing.